


Richie's train trip

by Postsynthcomrade5



Category: Bottom (UK)
Genre: Autism, British Character, British English, British Slang, Gen, Introspection, Moral Lessons, POV Male Character, Post-Canon, Protectiveness, References to Canon, Self-Reflection, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Postsynthcomrade5/pseuds/Postsynthcomrade5
Summary: During a self-reflective train trip, Richie actually tries to help someone who isn't enjoying the train trip because some twits are making it not a good sensory experience.





	1. Chapter 1

It was time to catch a train, Richie was supposed to collect Eddie from the cinema, but as usual, the seats were packed, he was slightly late, of course, he was.

He stood as the train started moving along, he had an introspective thought as he looked out the windows.

What was he really, 

Well, he was a man, that was the first thing he could list in his head, although sometimes he felt as if he always had to prove how “manly” he was and compared to the other guys he didn’t have as many manly traits as they did,

Eddie could invent the next scientific breakthrough, Spudgun and dave hedgehog knew how to socialize in public better than him...while he,.....couldn’t really think of anything, he cooked, but even if his dish was successful, it’s not like it would be acknowledged or appreciated, he knew how to look after the house and clean up after Eddie, although that was stereotypically a positive trait associated with women.

Unlike the rest of the guys he was very overly emotional, to the point where Eddie once called him a “hysterical girl's blouse”, he didn’t like being called this but it’s not like Eddie was wrong, Richie did tend to get anxious often about a lot of things, sometimes he was composed, other times he just felt so overwhelmed by society's expectations, his lack of communication skills, his jealousy of others and sensory overload.

On reflection, he felt humiliated with himself, every social cue he missed, every dating attempt that went wrong, every sly remark, with the latter he was used to Eddie's sarcasm but sometimes on bad depression days it would just add to the unhappiness he felt.

Sometimes he knew how to talk to women, other times he’d get anxious because he didn’t know how to socialize with them, he just wanted someone to love him for him, he wasn’t always anxious, he wasn’t always flirty, he felt restricted by the roles that society put upon him.


	2. Chapter 2

Compared to his successful siblings, he was the odd one out, as a kid he was a boy that would cry if he scraped his knee, compared to other boys who would’ve shrugged it off, he didn’t like how most of the time society saw him at his worst.

Sometimes he’d let the bad voices of anxiety and his competitive streak get to him, he wanted people to see him as a good person, Jesus was a good person when he’d read the bible he liked how Jesus helped out others.

Besides being a man, he was a British man, despite being raised with very conservative values, being a working-class resident in 90s Britain made him realize that Great Britain isn’t so great after all, the pigs misuse their power, the billionaires wasted money, that he and Eddie could use for more beneficial purposes like getting themselves jobs or maybe letting Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog have jobs, he was taught to trust those toffee-nosed posh bastards, but did they help him and Eddie when they were going through money trouble?….not one bit

Then he remembered one small brief memory, the baby, the time a baby was left on the doorstep and he, Eddie, Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog tried to look after it, it felt nice to have someone to look after and care for, someone he could somewhat understand, while he couldn’t translate baby speak, he related to the feeling of being alone, confused and lacking the communication skills to explain to others how he felt.

He was an Autistic adult man, finding socializing very difficult, he would tag along with Eddie often because he got along with him despite their occasional bickering, he didn't like talking with Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog because he didn't know how to talk to them.

But at least he had people before he learned the baby belonged to Mr Harrison, the baby felt lonely too when Richie found the baby on their doorstep that Christmas, he realized it wasn't some twit who had more money than them, it was a baby, a baby that was lonely and unsure of the world, it made him remember the story of Jesus's birth.

He did also look after his sister when she was little, biting his tongue when he saw Mr Harrison barge in that day, whinging about missing Goldfinger on tv instead of realizing that he had left his son with complete strangers, he felt like what Mr Harrison did was a very non-christian thing to do.

It was also a bit of an eye-opener for him as prior to finding the baby he was mostly thinking about Christmas dinner not going well for him and the guys, they had people to be around and food to eat, whereas the poor little baby didn’t have much with him besides his blanket and carrycot, it made him realize how good he and Eddie had it and that while they make mistakes, at least they aren’t Mr Harrison.

It also made him think about what it would be like if he was a father, would he enforce the same dated stereotypes he dealt with as a boy, or would he let his future child openly express their emotions, being there for them if they were upset about something.

He continued gazing at the window until he heard some rowdy laughter from nearby from some other passengers, they were young men.

There was also a young teenage girl standing near a rowdy couple of disruptive boys, the boys were either looking for people to flirt with or they were just taking up space, without a care in the world about the personal boundaries of the other commuters.

The girl was also autistic and didn’t like people being that physically close to them, especially not reckless young men who looked as if they were about to make her the next target of their harassment by making her feel quite agitated.


	3. Chapter 3

She started to cry, she didn’t want to cry, she just wanted to continue her train journey but men were being annoying and that made the environment she was in, not a very sensory-friendly place.

Richie realized this wasn’t good, he didn’t like the rowdy crowd either, they were causing quite the ruckus, he knew that sensory overload was hell to deal with, he could tell from the woman’s hesitant body language that she wasn’t comfy.

he slowly walked over to the gang of twats and said

“would you lot please leave that young woman alone, honestly learn some manners”

When confronting the young lads, his voice was slightly raised, compared to the lads he was very tall, about 6 foot, he had his hands folded and had an expressive grumpy face which scared the twats off to the other part of the subway where they remained quiet for the rest of the journey

The young girl was still shivering from the encounter with the rowdy boys and still shedding a few tears, they didn’t say anything as they were still processing the experience,

Richie waited a while and then he lightly held his hand out, as the girl noticed this, she held her hand over his and noticed his calming demeanour in contrast to the twits from the earlier,

Richie gave a small smile, she smiled back, he said, “it’s alright, they’re gone now, they won’t bother you anymore” 

As the train went on before it reached the final station, he and the girl got back to their seats, the atmosphere was more settled as the girl lightly held onto Richie’s arm as she then started to feel a bit tired, she rested on Richie’s shoulder for the rest of the trip, Richie didn’t mind though, the rowdy twats had left at the previous station,

soon the girl’s station name was announced, people started to get off the train,

Richie asked in a soft tone, “isn’t this your stop?”

The girl quietly mumbled “thank you”,

she then overheard Richie’s question and realized that others were leaving, as she got her bag and walked off the train before she left, she gave Richie a little wave, he smiled and waved back.

When Richie eventually made his way to the cinema to take Eddie home, he felt happy and calm for once, he felt like he had done a good thing, he had helped someone, as Eddie went on about how good the film he saw was, he just let Eddie chatter away, he didn’t whine or comment about it, he just let Eddie have his ramble.

Afterwards, they ordered takeaway from Amal’s kebab shop and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Richie felt good knowing that he could be a good person, he just had to put in the effort and be aware of other’s experiences, he made a young girl’s bad train trip somewhat tolerable by helping her out.


End file.
